An array of academic activities

The life of an Erasmus Mundus student brings a variety of social opportunities - festivals, holidays and more. However, this post, aims to highlight another opportunity handed to us: the breadth of academic insights we receive. Through differing teaching styles, course structures and even physical environments, we are given the opportunity to open our minds wider and wider, broadening our academic background.

In addition to the everyday academic diversity we encounter, we frequently experience even greater diversity through the numerous opportunities to attend conferences, seminars, PhD defences and more in the institutes in which we study. Our most recent  opportunity was to attend a research seminar at UPC only last week from Dr. Carlo Gregoretti, titled “Monitoring Debris Flow in North Eastern Italy”. With impressive visualisation of concepts, his talk acted as a useful introduction to a topic (Debris Flows) that we have newly encountered in Barcelona.

Similarly, whilst at UNESCO-IHE we had the opportunity to attend a PhD (Multi-Objective Optimization for Urban Drainage Rehabilitation by Wilmer Jose Barreto Cordero) and a Master (Flood Characteristics of the Haor Area in Bangladesh and the Potential Effects of Climate Change by Asadusjjaman Suman) defence. Talks such as these give us the opportunity to gain insight into the future for our studies!

At UNESCO-IHE a seminar was held discussing “How Flood risk can promote social justice”, highlighting the significance of social aspects of flood risk management. The seminar provided a differing perspective from much of our studies, raising our awareness of the fact that deeper social and philosophical considerations must be taken in order to formulate appropriate strategies for flood-related disasters globally. With the views of co-ordinator Zoran Vojinovic, honorary fellows of UNESCO-IHE Dr. Cunge, Professor Mike Abbott and Professor J.P O’Kane, the seminar proved a refreshing academic experience for all in attendance.

FRM students talking to Dr. Gopal at the Intecol Conference

As discussed previously, during our Florida fieldtrip we were given the opportunity to attend the INTECOL Wetlands Conference, the globes premier wetlands meeting. The opportunity to meet numerous academics and interact with a tight-knit academic community was a new experience for many of the course and gave the perfect introduction to the world of an academic. In fact, whilst at the Wetlands conference, I was able to meet a professor (Dr. Gopal) who had contributed the leading research in Ecology science and a frequently reoccurring name in my own personal research for my own ecology paper on tropical wetlands whilst at TU Dresden. As with most of the academics we were lucky enough to meet at the conference, Dr Gopal’s words and insights served as motivation for many of us to enter the world of research in the future.

As students under the course title of ‘Hydroinformatics’ at UNESCO-IHE, when the opportunity to attend a Hydroinformatics conference in Hamburg arose, a few of us (those most interested in the field) took the opportunity with welcome hands. The conference took a special focus on the impact of climate and environmental changes on aquatic environments and the development of suitable adaptation and mitigation measures. During our attendance, Prof. Dimitri Solomatine, the head of Hydroinformatics at UNESCO-IHE, helped us to appreciate the importance of attending such conferences to enhance our knowledge and become familiar with the latest research. And this, in fact, is true of all of the above seminars, conferences and talks – it is these opportunities that can really broaden our academic experiences. This will hopefully prove invaluable in developing ideas for our own masters research and beyond. So I guess we should probably be off for some literature reviewing!

Hydroinformatics participants with UNESCO staff: Professor Dimitri Solamatine (left) and Dr Popescu and Dr Jonoski
Special thanks must go to Dimitri for his help organising the attendance of the students at the conference.

by Nilay Dogulu

¡Hola Barcelona!

Having reached halfway of this masters marathon, the month of holiday in August came as a welcome break to our tired bodies and minds. For most, this involved travelling to our respective home countries to replenish ourselves by catching up with family and friends, filling up on all our favourite foods, daytime soap operas and simple delights such as being able to read signposts, while also having some time to take stock of the whirlwind of a year we have had. For others, their travelling experiences continued as they took the opportunity to venture even further across Europe and beyond. As if we hadn't had enough travelling as it was.

At the beginning of September it was yet again time to pack our entire lives into suitcases and boxes, find accommodation and begin our next adventure in the beautiful city of Barcelona. As a tourist destination, this was definitely the city we were most looking forward to visiting. And I can tell you now, it has not disappointed. Barcelona is a city teeming with culture, amazing architecture, festivals and music, with the added bonus of incredible weather and beaches! It is also steeped in history and the people here take enormous pride in both their region Catalonia and, of course, the famous Barcelona Football Club.

Castells, a truly Catalan construction

Thus far, the highlight of our stay has been the festival of ‘La Mercè’. This festival took place a week after a festival campaigning for Catalonian independence from Spain and only two weeks before that there was another festival in our local area of Les Corts... for no particular reason! The Spanish really do love to party and they know how to do it well! ‘La Mercè’ celebrates the Roman Catholic feast day of Our Lady of Mercy - the patron saint of the city. A jam-packed schedule included; free concerts, circus acts, the building of 'castells' (human towers), a fire-music-fireworks parade known as 'Correfoc', more free concerts and the biggest fireworks display I have ever seen to finish off the celebrations. It was a truly magical weekend!

But of course, the reason we have the privilege of enjoying these marvellous experiences is ultimately to become flood risk managers. Therefore, it was with fresh brains that we began our studies in Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) under the guidance of Prof. Allen Bateman. After some inevitable registration and logistical confusion that seems to follow us everywhere we go, we eventually returned our noses to the grindstone. The courses here have been carefully planned so as not to overlap with any material we covered in either Dresden or Delft. This has led to a diverse and interesting timetable with numerous new concepts and approaches being taught. Our classes here cover; drought management, debris flow and flash flood risk, coastal risk management and the use of radar in flood early warning systems. A key feature of our work at UPC will be that all of our grades will be based on continuous assessments - projects or presentations completed in groups or individually, depending on the subject. This allow a more practical and application based approach to be taken to the subjects, accounting for us only spending 3 months here.

A major academic issue,burning a hole in the minds of the entire class, is the upcoming selection of thesis topics. Our first preliminary list of topics has just been received and makes for a very ‘thought provoking’ read.  So, just as we settle into our lives in Barcelona we are already looking forward to the future with curiosity, wonderment and only a mild sense of dread! It seems to be the FRM lifestyle!

by Siobhan Gleeson

The social-side of Delft

Inbetween the academic adventures of Delft, outlined in the previous post, there had been an increased social activity in our lives post-Florida. After the fieldtrip we had developed a much tighter bond as a course (hey, when you are sharing insect-repellent spray and killing each other’s cockroaches, you tend to develop a special bond), a fact that we looked to make the most of. Immediately upon our return to Holland, the European Football Championships were kicking-off, which saw the European contingent to support their respective nations. By the end, we had grown tired of Patricia’s Spain’s dominance and took great comfort in the “efforts” of the Irish faction (1, 2 and 3). All alongside Kate’s pride in her very own Poland hosting the whole event! But, when the time came we all fell behind Ryanne’s Dutch team and it was with disappointment that we witnessed their premature exit.

Surrogate Netherland fans, watching them play on a canal boat - does it get more Dutch?

And the football-fever was only increased when the annual UNESCO-IHE football tournament came around. After a brief gauging of opinion, abilities and, most importance, numbers, it was decided that aHydroinformatics team – compromising of our own FRM players and our coursemates from IHE’s

'HydroWINformatics' - a team that did us proud.
(Only missing our star centre-back Duc)

Hydroinformatics course. Thus, the 'HydroWINformatics' team was born. Compromising of 14 ‘able’ players, we entered the tournament with low expectations, the goal to just have some fun. With some players playing competitively for the first time, we most definitely had some fun and thanks to a tight defence that only leaked a single goal in four games, we managed to come second in our league, only losing out on goal difference! A tremendous time was had by all and we were all very proud of the efforts put in. The gauntlet has been lay down for next year’s FRM participants – reach the final or face eternal shame!

'Spike by DHI' - captained & trained by Katya

Continuing the theme of FRM sports, when the UNESCO-IHE beach volleyball tournament came around it seemed only fitting to enter a FRM team. With a few players, again, learning to play the sport for the  first time during the tournament, the focus was, again, just to have some fun, but, again, we ended up doing quite well. In the end, we finished in third place overall, a position to be proud of (take note next year's FRM group...). This time our chosen team name (‘Spike by DHI’ – a pun on ‘spiking’ in volleyball and our often used software package ‘MIKE by DHI’. Get it?) did not receive a positive reception, met mostly by confusion and indifference. Regardless, we had a fantastic time, impressively supported by our classmates.

In addition to sporting fun, we were also lucky enough to witness one of the themed UNESCO-IHE social nights, this time taking us on a cultural tour of Asia! FRM was represented solely by Shristi, performing a traditional Nepali dance as if she was a professional dancer, not an engineer!  Followed by a night of Asian and world dancing at the disco, fuelled by Asian cuisine and Dutch beer, a rip-roaring time was had by all. 

A celebration of Asia at UNESCO-IHE!

And, less formally, in the fine weather that occasionally visited Delft, we held a number of barbecues, bike rides and made the most of the ever-dwindling time that we had together in the city. It was these moments that really gave us the best opportunity to explore the city of Delft and to finally say goodbye before a month of holidays in August and, then, the beginning of Chapter III: Barcelona.

The final push in Delft

Post-Florida and pre-holidays, our time in Delft flew and, before we knew it, we were saying goodbye to Delft. The two months in June and July saw us follow two courses at UNESCO-IHE – Flood Risk Management and Hydroinformatics for Decision Support Systems. These two months also saw us experience some good Dutch weather (and, admittedly  also some terrible Dutch weather), which we lapped-up willingly, so please refer to the following post that it wasn't all work and no play!

As the namesake of our entire masters, the Flood Risk Management course was one that had always held special resonance in the schedule. Having also undertaken a course of the same name in Dresden, it was of interest to see the difference in approaches from the two institutes. The course in Dresden took a very holistic approach, covering a wide-base of the entire Flood Risk Management spectrum – from insurance and legal frameworks to spatial planning and social vulnerability studies, the Dresden course was deemed to be the pinnacle of our studies in Germany, providing a fantastic insight into the field. All thanks must go to Dr Katya Siemens, Dr Jochen Schanze and the numerous guest-speakers. At UNESCO-IHE, the FRM module took an approach much more focussed on the modelling and data-manipulation used in flood risk management. With consideration of Early Warning Systems, and the creation of models to produce such warnings, spatial depth-damage curves and more, the course took a more specialised approach to flood risk management. Which was good if you liked computer and models.

The Decision Support Systems module provided a first experience of a new field for the class: using computer programs and set methodologies to help make better and more informed decisions. Having already gained experience in the principles behind such concepts as Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) and Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA), it was of interest to see how computer programs could be used to formalise these procedures and facilitate more effective decision making. In addition to some very complicated website design/programming, excel macro-writing and, essentially, economics it was time to say goodbye to our academic life in Delft. It had been a hard ride, not a single member of the course was under delusions otherwise, but a ride in which a lot had been learnt.

The entire Delft group: Academic staff, Hydroinformatics students,
FRM students at the organised leaving party

To read about the social-side of our times in Holland, please check out the following post.

by Richard Vause

Florida Fieldtrip May 2012

It may be tardy, but maybe that is representative of how crazy the past five months have been! When you left us after the last post we were sat in our optional modules, pondering the intricacies of urban flood modelling and river basin modelling. The then near-future, the now recent-past, has seen us travel to Florida, follow three more modules at UNESCO-IHE, return home for a month of holidays (or travel for the more adventurous amongst us) and spend a month studying at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona. But before tales of the present are regaled, let us bring you up to speed with some of the experiences from the missing past five months! Beginning with our Florida fieldtrip.

Well, where do you begin? Upon acceptance of our scholarship, the of an international fieldtrip had us excited and after the announcement of over two weeks in Florida, our anticipation rarely dropped below the ‘very excited’ level.

The fieldtrip began back in Holland, when law students from the University of South Florida joined us at UNESCO-IHE for lectures covering the environmental and legal issues facing the state. It was an insightful introduction and the opportunity to meet our host in Florida, The Florida EarthFoundation’s Stan Bronson. With the promises of the time of our lives from Stan fixed steadily in our minds we embarked on the flight over the pond. With only mild visa issues (obviously, there were still some, but these appear to be inevitable on this course).

The trip started in Tampa Bay, as we spent time with the Patel School of Global Sustainability as part of the University of South Florida. Welcomed with exceptionally generous hosting (breakfasts, juices, packed lunches, t-shirts, pens and more!), we were introduced to the recently-established school, it’s work and motivations, whilst taken on a number of site visits and trips.

Next, it was onto West Palm Beach, where we were staying for our longest stretch, in beautifully stereotypical American-motel-style halls of residence. Whilst here, we were the guests of the South Florida WaterManagement District, which saw us receiving numerous lectures, workshops, tours and site visits. The emphasis placed on research at a water management district was both a pleasant surprise and enlightening, with some impressive innovation throughout the field of water management being achieved (through novel modelling, data sourcing, management and other approaches).

After our time in West Palm Beach, with the SFWMD, we were onto Orlando and Disneyland for the Intecol International Wetlands Conference, where we were the willing guests of the United States Geological Survey USGS). For many of the course this was our first experience of an academic conference and the opportunity to step into a tight, international and innovative community was eye-opening and inspiring.

(Almost) The whole group in Florida, including our main man Stan Bronson in the centre!

It was then our time to head home, back to Delft massively jet-lagged and in a varying spectrum of tans/sunburns. Obviously, there was a lot of socialising, partying, beach-fun, travelling and assorted relaxation activities throughout the evenings and weekends and these are too numerous to mention here.

For more information of our social antics, more detailed descriptions of our activities with the Florida Earth Foundation, The Patel School, SFWMD and the USGS, please see our day-to-day diary. Written by a different student every day, it provides a detailed insight into the trip from a variety of perspectives. I would recommend reading Saturday 26th May, as it was written by myself and Siobhan and we are hilarious.

Here is the fieldtrip diary. For ease of reading, I would recommend opening the report in the following link:  Florida Fieldtrip

It must be noted that, despite being a group project, significant work was put in by Katarzyna Bozek to actually compile, format and edit the diaries! Much kudos sent your way.

On behalf of all the students, I would love to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to all of our hosts in Florida from the Florida Earth Foundation, The Patel School, SWFMD and the USGS and to all the amazing individuals we met in our time in the USA. Also, thanks must go to Biswa, Schalk and Leo from UNESCO-IHE for agreeing to come and for putting up with us the whole time! An especially massive thank you goes to Stan Bronson and Isabella Slagle who organised everything on the trip and who made all of this possible. Thanks!

by Richard Vause